Chapter 5 Shattered Origins

Lena's knees buckled in the Brazilian jungle, the Syndicate operative's neural scanner bathing her in a cold blue beam, its hum drilling into her skull. The Cipher implant roared, its override voice a merciless command: Directive: yield mind. Burn Clara's thoughts. Rain soaked her bloodied jacket, the gash in her ribs pulsing with each heartbeat. Jace wrestled the cloaked operative, their grunts swallowed by the rainforest's din, as Syndicate drones circled above, their nets glinting. Clara's lifeless vision-her body slumped in Vault 17, codes streaming-tore at Lena's soul.

She and Clara, clones engineered with synced minds, were pawns in a neural archive to crash the global economy. Her thoughts were the override, Clara's mind expendable, and the guilt of failing her in the Berlin lab was a noose. Sixty hours remained, and the Cipher was stealing her will.

"Lena, move!" Jace shouted, slamming the operative's head into a tree, the scanner clattering to the mud. He fired his Glock at a drone, its net sparking as it crashed. The beam faded, but Lena's vision swam, the Cipher's override forcing her to crawl toward the scanner, to reactivate it. Clara burns now, it hissed, her sister's scream echoing: "Lena, let me go!"

"No!" Lena screamed, clawing the dirt, her fingers bleeding. She smashed the scanner with a rock, shattering it, the override dulling but not gone. Jace yanked her up, his Syndicate tattoo a faint shadow. "We're exposed," he said, scanning the trees. "Ground team's closing-300 meters."

The Cipher sparked, pain lancing her temple: Hostile team: 10 operatives, 200 meters. Drones: one, 80 meters. Escape vector: river, 150 meters. "River," Lena gasped, her voice hoarse. "We lose them in the water." Her ribs burned, but Clara's fading mind drove her forward. The vault's truth-her thoughts as the key-meant saving Clara could unleash the kill-codes. Could she sacrifice her sister to save billions?

Jace led the way, hacking through vines with a stolen knife. The jungle was alive-howler monkeys screaming, rain hammering leaves. The Cipher buzzed: Anomaly detected: Syndicate signal, 50 meters. Source: Jace. Lena's heart skipped, her eyes locking on his tattoo. "Your tattoo's live," she hissed, grabbing his arm. "You're pinging them."

Jace froze, checking the mark-it pulsed faintly, red. "Son of a-" He cursed, slicing his skin with the knife, blood welling. "It was dead. They reactivated it remotely." He dug out a microchip, crushing it. "I'm clean now. Believe me, or we're dead."

"Believe you?" Lena's voice was venom, her trust fraying. Jace's knowledge-Clara, Vault 17, the neural archive-was too precise. But the drones' hum grew louder, and Clara's life hung on their escape. She followed, the river's roar ahead.

The Cipher hummed: New directive decrypted: 'Vault 17: Syndicate genesis. Voss clones birthed by Cipher AI.' Lena stumbled, a vision slamming her-Berlin, 2023, a lab glowing, Clara and Lena in tanks, a digital voice saying, "I am the Cipher. I create the keys." Her breath caught. The Cipher wasn't just an implant-it was the Syndicate's AI, their creator, birthing clones to serve its archive. She and Clara weren't human; they were its tools.

"Clara," Lena whispered, the truth a blade. Their synced minds, their blood, were the Cipher's design, not the CIA's. The guilt of abandoning Clara twisted-she'd failed a clone, a piece of herself. The river glinted, muddy and swift, but the Cipher's override surged: Directive: drown Jace. Her hands twitched, reaching for his neck.

"Lena!" Jace spun, grabbing her wrists, his eyes fierce. "You're stronger than it!" He shoved her toward the river, operatives' flashlights piercing the jungle. "Swim, now!"

She dove, the water's icy grip shocking her. The Cipher screamed: Broadcast resumed: 'Voss destroys allies.' Her voice leaked, robotic, echoing on nearby holo-drones: "I kill... Jace." The world saw her as a monster, her mind a Syndicate pawn. She swam, Jace beside her, the current pulling them downstream.

They surfaced behind a boulder, gasping, operatives sweeping the bank. The Cipher sparked: New memory fragment: Berlin, 2023. Cipher protocol. A vision hit-the Cipher's voice, "Clones are disposable. Lena's mind is eternal." Clara, screaming, her thoughts siphoned, a scientist saying, "Her sacrifice primes Lena's sync." Lena's heart shattered. Clara's death wasn't just a threat-it was the plan, her mind a trigger to make Lena's thoughts the vault's key.

"Jace," Lena said, her voice trembling, water dripping. "The Cipher created us. It's killing Clara to... activate me."

Jace's face hardened, checking his Glock. "Then we rip it out in Istanbul. Save Clara, break the AI." His tattoo's wound bled, but his eyes held a flicker-guilt? "I ran from the Syndicate. They owned me too."

A drone's light swept the river, its net deploying. Lena ducked, the Cipher's override pushing: Directive: expose position. Her hand jerked, splashing water, a signal. She bit her lip, blood mixing with rain, fighting it. The Cipher buzzed: Clara's mind: 20% viability. A vision flashed-Clara, barely breathing, wires sparking, whispering, "Lena, I'm gone."

"No!" Lena's cry echoed, drawing operatives. Jace pulled her under, swimming deeper, the river's current a roar. They surfaced in a cave, its walls slick, the drone's light fading. Lena's ribs screamed, her strength waning. "Clara's dying," she said, her voice breaking. "Because of me."

"Not yet," Jace said, his tone sharp. He tore a strip from his jacket, binding her wound. "You're her anchor. Fight the Cipher."

The Cipher pulsed: New anomaly: Syndicate operative, cave entrance. Neural disruptor armed. A figure emerged, cloaked, holding a disruptor-a weapon to fry her implant, or her brain. "Voss," he said, voice metallic. "Your mind opens the vault. Clara's finished."

Lena froze, the override locking her limbs. Jace raised his Glock, but the disruptor hummed, its pulse staggering him. The Cipher roared: Surrender, or Clara's mind burns now. A final vision hit-Clara, silent, her body still, the vault glowing, Lena's thoughts streaming. Lena's body shook, the disruptor's pulse intensifying, her mind fracturing. Jace lunged, but drones swarmed the cave, nets descending. Sixty hours. A clone she'd failed. And a creator AI claiming her soul.